Catharsis: Discovery and Decimation
by Always-unofficial
Summary: Ever wonder what had happened the first two years before Bella came into town?Those two years the Cullens came to town isolated from everyone else?What if I told you there was a separate world of theirs that they discovered and kept secret, even after meeting Bella?A world that goes through a conflicting war between species opp.and alike? a place where darkness exist.Read more.


Synopsis: Ever wonder what had happened the first two years before Bella came into town? Those two years the Cullen's came to town isolated from everyone else? What if I told you there was a separate world of theirs that they discovered and kept secret, even after meeting Bella? A world that goes through a conflicting war between species opp. and alike? A place where darkness exist. Here we have a strange family who moves in in their neck of the woods, applying in the same school and revealing who they really are by revealing their thoughts. They have a secret, a really big one, and if they're not careful, they're existence could be jeopardized. Can the Cullen's be allies, or enemies?

Catharsis

The fire grew and slowly became a part of the sky. Slowly, the smoky mass snuffed out the ebony colored sky and covered the stars, in which large giants took their residents there. I can hear them choke and burn as the fires licked at their heels and in disdain all I could do was watch as the fires consumed them all. Tears; uncontrollable and unstoppable tears fell at their will. They were merciless as they rained down, bringing with them a horrendous pain into my chest, causing a bellow, a scream that I could not recognize from myself. It wasn't mine, it could have been, it was some other poor souls', I'm sure of it. But no matter what I told myself at that moment long ago, I still remembered the flames that ate away their bodies, tearing and cutting into their skin, turning to charcoal then bursting with oozing skin. Their bodies became slow burning wax and the fire of their lives were not snuffed out quickly. Their blood, our blood, is spilled by spite on the cold earth that we, without fail, have worshipped.

No one escaped that night. We were all trapped by the mark of their deaths, with the images burned into every member and crevasse built into our brains, creating the labyrinth of everlasting regret, pain and sorrow. However, some escaped physically. But we could never escape the horrors of that night, The Night of Hellfire. Though I am one of the survivors, I can still hear the screams of the great giants, screaming with blood in their mouths, as it echoes and rings through every being of my body. I weep for them, we all do, and we will continue to do so no matter how the years pass us by.

_E.C. _

It turned out to be one of those sunny days in Forks, leaving us to have an early weekend from the human world. The light would dimly pierce through the roof of all the trees as we all climb the cliff side of Goat Rocks Wilderness, just south of Mt. Rainer. Once and a while the light would softly reflect on our skin, making a haunting glow against the forest and rock. Separating, we each divide by the scent that allures us the most. It didn't take Emmett very long to tackle into the scent of a grizzly a couple miles deep into the wood; he only left with a smirk on his face, initiating his take off from the group. Soon, the girls picked up their scents, each one, flying off, and quietly disappearing into the brush. This was a typical occurrence. Every now and then, when the scent of hot, pulsating blood becomes tempting, we recharge, separating ourselves from a species we once were, species with beating hearts that we too used to have carried. Once Jasper had taken his leave, not too far from Alice, all that was left was Carlisle and I, remaining behind; the thirst, for some reason, was not as scalding as the others,

"How are you Edward?" Carlisle says with a casual demeanor. He puts his hands in the pockets of his denim jeans, his skin dimly glows and dulls as cloud and sunshine took a hold of us. For a while now, I've been distracted, my mind wandering, occasionally not speaking or interacting,

"Surviving" I say playfully, smiling with a natural tug of the lip. Carlisle gives a humble smile, a warm one, a smile that a good and humble person should have.

"Tell me, I understand that, though we all voted equally as a family to make this move; I was concerned about your thoughts. I know the transitions at times can be tedious, but still, I want to know whether this feels right for you Edward. I want you to be happy." Carlisle look toward me, taking glances at my face as he looked forward into the forest, half thinking to me and half thinking to himself , thinking of the frightening idea that in some small way, I would leave. And in some small way, without him causing it or invoking it, I was. We appear to the edge of a clearing, covered in knee high grass that rattled as the slight breeze grazed against the blades. I take a deep inhale, letting the sweetness of the air inflate the uselessness of my lungs. I convinced myself continuously over and over that I can be happy, that there wasn't the need of running, or escaping, but time and time again, I am disrupted with my sense of logic, with my mind telling me:

_You can be happy…_ I'd say to myself, however, I remind myself of the truth of that statement, I know in all honesty, that I'm not happy as much as I want to be.

_What's stopping you from leaving? _

What is? A ghost of a whisper interrupts, clouding my mind with speculation.

"What more can I want Carlisle?" is my only response I have for him. We both stare into the open clearing. Silent and peaceful, we decide mutually not to break this silence for a while. It lasts for several moments, minutes, maybe an hour. The sun comes in and out of darkness, as if it were unsure to shine for us, to shine for beings that have been shunned from sunlight for a very long time. Birds sweep through the expanded thicket of grass, catching insects and screeching a song that echoes through the woods. I'm not sure if it was me or if it was Carlisle, but the sudden thought of spending eternity in this place gave a sharp feeling of longing. It's easy to come to an understanding, that even in eternity, for these woods, they will undergo change, metamorphosis and new life once again. The woods are immortal like the souls of people. Not even we carry the luxury of change, or a sense of rebirth. We are only stones at the bottom of a lake, uninterrupted, unchanging, and forever to be imprisoned in eternal stillness.

Recently, a week ago, actually, my family and I moved back to Forks, a small town near a small peninsula near the Olympic west coast.

It has been almost eighty years since we last been to Forks, the last time we were here we made a treaty with a pack of werewolves who were native to the land, after that, we all decided it was best to go our separate ways, together leaving Forks and the natives with it. We eventually nestled with a coven that resided in Denali, Alaska. Comfortable as it was, the human population eventually grew in suspicion, and it was then that it was time to make the best decision and move back to a place where we can expose ourselves in an environment we can call "comfortable" once more. Forks seemed like a tempting enough location. _At least for _them…

The sun has moved slightly over the horizon and I just realize while I was lost in thought, Carlisle was sitting beside me with his shoes off looking at the vast meadow before us. I suppose he didn't want to interrupt my thoughts. And when I announce that the family is coming to a close to their hunt, Carlisle stands, taking his shoes in his hands, until he remarks,

"You're free to do as you will Edward, what you do, what you feel for the greater good for yourself, will always be praised by Esme and I, never forget that." I look at Carlisle and give him a smile, one with a good conscience. Sometimes I wonder if Carlisle was the mind reader and I just an open page. The thought made me smile half-heartedly.

"Thank you." Like anything that can happen in my immortal life, Carlisle is always there to stand with me. In the distance, I see Emmett appear with Rosalie and Jasper, all of which look loose, and more composed than when we first got here.

"Not hungry?" Alice's small voice breaks through my reverie. Her hands were behind her, she leaned forward to look up at my face, a small play of a smile curved at the corner of her mouth with a concerning and questionable look played in her expression.

"Just wasn't feeling the hunger as much as I thought I was" Smiling back, she gave a curt frown that overlooked my face. I know she's unsatisfied with my response, I've even known that lately she's been unsatisfied with the way I was behaving. I'm always giving her this casual nonchalant mood with her and the family.

"It's cool, Alice, Edward's not in his game today, pretty sure he'll spruce up when his throat starts to sizzle and gag" Emmett says with a good slap in the back. Of course Alice and the others find it amusing, and yes, I have to admit, it made me get into a good mood,

"Right, you should know, right Emm?" Jasper retorts with this all knowing smile, which got Emmett into a competitive state, if not, it got him excited. He smiles wide, with his predatory expression that made his eyes glint in the most mischievous way.

"All right you two, let's head back to the cars, don't want to level any forests this time do we?" Esme, appears and goes to Carlisle's open arm. Her attitude is playful, however, Esme is stern in the idea of leaving the woods intact, unlike the last time when aggravation and hunger were a part of the mix.

"Nah, of course not, Es, if anything you saved Jaz here from a good ass kicking." Smiling, he places an arm around Jasper's shoulder and jostles him, of course, the big oaf makes us smile and everything turns to one huge joke, like it always has been.

"Where am I in all of this affection, Emm?" Immediately reacting to Rosalie's voice, Emmett turns, smoothly taking his arm around her waist and kisses her cheek with a small grin,

"Now what makes you think I can keep myself away from you too long?" Rosalie gives him a smirk, and automatically, I shut myself out of their heads, not interested in their foreplay or planned extracurricular activities. The group moves forward, all heading back to our cars at the base of the mountain, however, I lag behind, all of a sudden feeling this sense of loss, but not in sadness or in remorse, but in a loss of self, the mind, which I rarely keep untrack of. Carlisle's voice interrupts my thoughts, and though I welcome it, I also want to wave it away like how a child would when a parent gives them cough syrup,

'_Don't pull yourself away from us, Edward. If you ever need an ear, I am always here to listen.' _Carlisle's thoughts are patient and kind, and suddenly I feel a small dose of guilt weigh on me and suddenly, everything seems crowded, like I'm in a ballroom full of people and the music is loud and drowned out by the clatter of people, even though no one is speaking,

"You guys go on ahead" I start. The family pauses and look toward me, their smiles dwindling slightly, Alice gives me a once over and gives a small smile,

"Sure Edward, but don't be long, ok?" She looks at me, and suddenly, slightly, she sees through me a brief glassy look that peaks my curiosity. I wasn't sure if it was a vision or if it was a pensive expression, I can't read her sometimes,

"Sure, Alice"

"Don't be long, Edward, it's getting late" Esme inquires. We're not human, we haven't been in a long time, however, I believe Esme cares for us as we are her children, and the concern is comforting. I give a curt nod, and walk back toward the forest.

The sun has stretched over the horizon, and the clouds have completely shrouded the sun into a premature darkness, giving a grey afterglow through the forest, darkening the lush green of the grass and deepening the soft colors of the wild flowers that sprout next to fallen trees. It grows darker as I continue to walk deeper, but my eye sight adjusts quickly. I feel calmer, but suddenly wary, it doesn't feel so loud out here, the natural silence stills my mind so much that in some ways it's startling. It doesn't feel right. I've drifted too far into these woods…

I stop, taking in my surrounding as an ominous feel trickles down my body.

Something is stalking me. I've only noticed just now and the thought that something has taken me by surprise like this irks me. I take light breaths, trying to catch the scent, thinking, at first, it was Emmett and Jasper horsing around. It wasn't. I would know if it was them, or whether or not it's an animal or a human, but it's neither. I bend low to the ground, and I realize that slowly the birds were ceasing their songs, and the small animals that walk the forest floors no longer rustle in the leaves on the forest floor. Then, just faintly, I hear something in the distance. It's hushed and difficult to understand. It's as if a voice is whispering into the darkness and the darkness is speaking back in turn. Chills take hold of my body and a sick feeling rises through my stomach.

For excruciating long moments the forest is dead silent. The breeze that had brushed the clearing earlier is absent from the center of the forest. I gnash my teeth at the uncomforting threat that I feel.

I hear something flutter and a branch creak. I look up to eerily see a tree full of ravens perched and watching. Their small black glassy eyes stare toward the forest floor in which I stand. All of them didn't move, as if they are watching, as if they are waiting. I slowly rise and just as I completely stand, a raven crows loudly and takes off, initiating a flurry of ravens to suddenly take flight and gust through and above the forest. They all rise up, hundreds of them, like a dark cloud that looms and circles over the forest.

Just as my eyes became fixated on the sudden swarm, the whispers grow louder and I spiral in a circle, trying to find the source, and as I look around, an unnatural emotion of rage run through me, growing as the frustration takes a hold of me.

"Show yourself!" I growl furiously. I'm being played with and I expect anything to happen. I realize that I'm surrounded by eyes and voices and all of them are looking at me, watching me and I feel as if they are closing in. Just as I turn to make a retreat, dead in my path stood a cloaked figure. I growl low at the appearance, the face is covered heavily by a ripped and dirty hood. The cloak looked like a flimsy material but was deep in a black color as it draped in a bundle at the figure's feet. Over the shoulders is what looks like wolf's fur draped like a shawl, buttoned by a broach with a human molar at its center piece. I exhale deeply, releasing a breath that I'm unaware of holding. As my breath releases, a plume of steam slips from my lips as the temperature drops. The ravens crow loudly overhead and flurry closer to the treetops in a funneling shape.

In that moment, as the figure tilts its head snakingly, I smell it, a familiar smell that you could never forget. It is the smell of rotting flesh and burnt hair or fur. It is a smell that I'm too comfortable in knowing. It is the smell of death. I bare my teeth, and just as I tense, about to make my first move, the figure raises its hood, revealing a pale set of lips, tinted in blue and blotched with plague like sores, it smiles, and its teeth are rotten, black and sharp as needles. My eyes widen and the uncontrollable feeling of fear sweeps over, the anger is gone, however, the overwhelming feeling of danger looms over, an ominous noose that caresses the throat.

"Christ…" I breathe. It smiles wide, transparent blue ooze drabbles from its lips and without moving its lips it speaks,

"What will you do son of Adam, offspring and child of Lilith?" It crones, it's voice low, and craggily, making long stretching sounds, similar to that of dead branches creaking against a winter's night. I take a single step away from this disgusting creature, and with that motion, came a leathery, boney and cold hand at my throat, lifting me up with such strength that not even my hands could pry them away. Its hooded face brings itself close to mine, and the horrible odor intensifies, smelling of sulfur and bile. Its mouth opens in what looks like a scream and her ink colored tongue rolls disgustingly in its mouth as it cries out in a screech. The sound pries between my ears, through my lips and rattles my body. My eyes become fixated on its needle-like teeth, I try to pry myself away, but its grip tightens and its body moves closer as it exhales a warm breath and an ink colored vapor rises and enters through my mouth, eyes, and ears.

Panic caves in as images of its face come into view as its hood pulls back. Its sunken eyes and needled teeth are forever branded into my mind. Reality wavers and quakes and I begin to hallucinate. I see the deaths of people I never knew, young and old, screaming, crying tears of blood and burning away in slow heaps of ash and skin. I see myself die, slowly, and feel every part of me dry and wither within my body. My vision becomes useless and everything is surrounded in a faded darkness, a dream-like state that makes me feel blind. Just as my body completely relaxes and lames-I'm not sure if it was the hallucinations this creature was giving me or the nightmares it fed, but…I hear a howl. One that is so profound and clear, that it rings in my ears as a permanent echo colliding with the screeching sound of the disfigured creature in front of me.

I hear a ravenous snarl that follows with the release in my body, as if I was thrown back against the ground. I hear bodies colliding, struggles in the fallen leaves of the forest floor, however, my vision is so static, so wavering that I could not see the invisible howler and creature in their struggle. A sudden gurgling screech echoes the forest, a sound of creature come to its end. I feel myself hit the ground, the cold earth caving into my body.

I try to steady myself, to steady my blurry vision by focusing on a tree, a branch, anything. I try to sit up and pick myself to my feet, but I can only meet halfway, on my hands and knees in a shaking gesture. I look up and see flashes of white, pass in a continuous shifting blur and in between darkness and impairing vision, I see teeth pull back from a muzzle covered in blood. White fur patched in silver and dark greys races around in a circle until it stops. And all can see in a somewhat clear sight, is fire blazing eyes, like amber set to flames, meet mine and suddenly I find myself coughing.

Trying to raise my head once more, the whiteness of its fur fades and I am left in silence. I wait moment after moment trying to regain any form of thought, any recognition of my own voice and I think at one point I shout out into the darkness in where the white mass had faded, however, all I hear in response is silence. The silence is excruciating, the seconds feels like hours in this timeless place. Then finally, the silence brakes by a single voice. Carlisle's.

"Edward!"

Alice is the first to reach me. I can feel her hands on my face, trying to raise my head to look at me. I focus on her face, which is somewhat in a blur. But I can see her eyes, and it's through her eyes I see the shock and disbelief,

"Edward, your eyes, what's happened to you?" She calls Carlisle over and it's Carlisle, who looks at me and speaks to me slowly,

"Edward…hear me?" can I hear him? Somewhere I did. Slowly my vision returns to me, and it isn't such a blur, I feel something rest inside me, as if to resettle into a place it used to be. My breath, that I didn't notice was shallow, resettles and evens in place. Carlisle looks away from me; his mouth opens as if he is speaking to someone. Instantaneously, I feel people lift me from my knees, to my feet. Jasper and Emmett take me on either side and place my arms on either side of them.

"You see what hunger can do to a vampire?" Emmett jokes around, taking a few steps,

"Give 'em a shot of whatever's in Carlisle's liquor cabinet and he'll be his sweet self in no time." Jasper pokes in, making light of the situation. All the words were heard but not able to be interpreted. As the boys load me into the car, my eyes are fixated out through the window and in the far distance. Where the tree line begins at the end of a clearing that touches the base of the mountain, a small motion of movement catches my attention. A white wolf stands between the trees, pausing between the shadows of the forest, watching us as we load and take off from the national park.

Alice sees the same thing and for some reason surprise didn't appear on her face.

A/N: well, I hope you all enjoyed this small story I've produced. Hopefully I'll have something up by next week after my midterms are finished. If anything expect something by the following week. Please feel free to review and comment, I would really like some criticism, if not some feedback from you readers. Thanks!

-AO


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